How to adjust oil furnace electrodes and flame?

Logic316 · 2008-10-30T22:38:39+00:00

Hi folks,I have an old cast iron boiler that used to burn coal back in the 1940's, and had been converted over to heating oil. It uses a pretty standard looking 3450 motor that's about 30 years old, and I clean and maintain the boiler myself (a pretty damn messy job, I know). The only problem is, I'm not sure how to properly adjust the ignition electrodes. I just vacuumed out the boiler, replaced the oil filter, and then replaced the fuel nozzle with exactly the same kind that it was using before (60 degrees spray angle, 1.35 gallons per hour flow rate). The problem is that even when I open the air intake band all the way, the flame is still long, red and smoky. I tried another new fuel nozzle with the same results, so I'm pretty sure that the nozzle isn't clogged up. I'm guessing it has something to do with the position of the ignition electrodes possibly interfering with the fuel spray pattern, and I suppose I could go back and forth about a hundred times disassembling and reassembling the fuel gun assembly until I get the electrodes perfect, but if anybody out there can give me the proper specifications I would very much appreciate it (there is no specs label on this motor, I checked).Also, can anybody give me some tips on adjusting the flame? I have some general idea that the flame should be made as big as possible, without giving off any smoke or long red "fingers". When I adjusted it last year, the furnace seemed to run pretty efficiently and there wasn't much soot in it when I cleaned it out, but it would be great if anybody could give me any tips on this.Thanks in advance :-)- Logic316"I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses." -- Victor Hugo

Oct 30, 2008 92 Replies

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bud-- 17 years ago

. My source is not a boiler engineer. He has a 4 year college degree in engineering, has the required experience in the field, and has passed the professional engineer tests to become a professional engineer. .

. As a professional engineer he is, of course, aware of liability issues.

Still missing (what a surprise) - any links to government sites that say homeowners are not allowed to remove asbestos in their homes.

If we follow Noon-Air's advice and look at state government pages we find the sites trader has posted that say a homeowner can remove asbestos in their homes. It is stupid to think a state would give advice that is contrary to federal law. A homeowner of course needs to find out the requirements including disposal.

Not part of my argument - my guess is the regulations under 29CFR/OSHA apply to workplace safety and not outside the workplace - at home. EPA regulations, which include disposal, do. (That is also what clare said.)

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Boden 17 years ago

Please don't attribute too much to the fact that someone is a Professional Engineer. It is more like a guild system than one which guarantees knowledge and ability.

Boden

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clare 17 years ago

quoted text -

What are you arguing with me for? I agree with you - gee, some guys can't read, or what?

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Zyp 17 years ago

Tony -

It's not a state mandate, it's a FEDERAL MANDATE ..... has to do with the Hazardous Materials Act of 1979. Although, in the Great State of California, there's a Prop. 65 list which includes asbestos.... as a hazardous carcinogen.

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Zyp 17 years ago

Ok Don;

You are right about the evidence. Although, that last little Columbia problem left plenty of evidence.

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Don Ocean 17 years ago

That was coming down. The real kaboom sending it up was a booming success. ;-p

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Steve 17 years ago

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Steve 17 years ago

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trader4 17 years ago

Notice you posted this link, without comment. And that is likely because that link, which I had seen days ago when I first started looking for the truth, doesn't say it's illegal for a homeowner to remove asbestos in their own home. It only says "should". It also says it's RECOMMENDED that minor repair be done by professionals too. Are you going to try to claim that makes repair work illegal too?

Clearly, if it were illegal, the EPA would just come out and say that, not leave it to tea leave readers. Saying removal and repair should be done by people trained and qualified in handling asbestos, is similar to some auto advice site saying brake repair should be done by people trained and qualified in auto repair. Does that mean there's a federal law making it illegal to work on the brakes of your own car?

BTW, depending on the type of asbestos product, the extent of it, etc, there are certainly many cases where I would agree with the EPA's advice that a homeowner should get professionals to do it. But that doesn't make it illegal under federal law to DIY.

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bud-- 17 years ago

He owned a company with something like 20 employees. Over half the work was in environmental areas - defining the nature and extent of a problem, designing a remediation plan, and getting the plan through the regulatory maze. In some cases also doing the cleanup work.

Most of the remaining work was also related to regulatory compliance like worker and community right-to-know, confined space entry, ....

The common thread is knowing and applying government regulations.

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